Research scholars at the Indian Institutes of Technology and all other central science and engineering schools will soon receive a massive hike of up to 33 per cent in the monthly stipend they receive. The human resource development (HRD) ministry has communicated the decision to all central institutions including the IITs.

… Apart from the IITs, students and research scholars at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), the National Institutes of Technology (NITs), and the Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) will also benefit.

The HRD ministry letter to the Directors of these institutions also says the "revision in rate will be applicable to other government and government aided institutions funded by the All India Council for Technical Education and University Grants Commission."

Students who graduate from the undergraduate B.Tech programme at the IITs with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of over 8, and those who clear the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering will now receive R16,000 a month during their PG research. They receive R12,000 a month at present.

PG degree holders in the basic sciences and students who have qualified in the National Eligibility Test will get R18,000 a month till their fifth year of PhD research. Students who hold PG degrees in engineering will receive R18,000 a month during the first two years of research and R20,000 a month during the next two years.

The * implies that I am not sure of the number. The number I have in that case may be a few years old. The above adds up to 1830+372* seats total. Out of which 1112+318* seats are in the greater Bhubaneswar (including Dhenkanal) area.

My guess is that majority of these M.Tech’s (at least 50-60%) would go into teaching. This should definitely help the faculty quality of the engineering colleges and programs in Odisha. In a few years IIT Bhubaneswar is going to start M.Tech. That would help the situation further.

Indian Institute of Production Management (IIPM) located in Kansbahal, Sundergarh, has scored a first in the State by starting an MTech programme in Production Engineering. Classes are expected to start from July 10, 2010. The course will be conducted by the Wellteach University of Chennai and 25 students will be taken in through a Joint Entrance Examination to be conducted by the university in June. The course fee for the 2-year course has been pegged at Rs 2 lakh.

Announcing this to the media in a meeting organised here on Sunday, Director Prof MR Nayak emphasised that even though the institute does not have any BTech course on offer it has ventured to conduct the MTech course because of its close to three decades of experience in training and consulting activity in the field of production engineering which has seen over 30,000 trainees pass through its portals including 1,400 persons from abroad. Because of its uniqueness of expertise and experience it has been included as an approved training institute under the Colombo Plan and the international trainees are sent here for training after selection by the Ministry of External affairs of the Government of India.

The features of these programmes and the mode of delivery are elucidated below.

• Each programme will be of three-year duration.

• These programmes will be offered in the holidays and beyond office hours on weekdays to facilitate the teachers employed in the engineering colleges to attend the classes.

• The programme may be offered during summer vacation.

• Since the potential student base for these programmes exist in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar, these programmes will be offered in the Extension Centers of the Institute at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar.

• A mixed mode of teaching through video-conferencing and face-to-face interaction will be adopted in these programmes.

• A faculty will deliver a lecture at any of the locations (primarily Kharagpur) and the students at Kolkata and Bhubaneswar will be able to attend the lecture and interact with the faculty through video-conferencing.

• The tutorials, seminars, and comprehensive viva-voce examinations will be conducted also in the above-stated mode, as and when required.

• The recorded lectures, tutorials, and interactions will be recorded in the two Extension Centres and will be stored at the library of each extension center. They will be available to the students for study during specified hours.

• Students cannot copy these recorded lectures.

• The recorded lectures, tutorials, and interactions will not be used in subsequent semesters as a substitute for live presentations.

• Laboratory classes will be conducted in one weekend of every month at IIT Kharagpur campus at Kharagpur.

• Laboratory classes may also be conducted at the respective extension centers in virtual mode, depending on the availability of the required facilities.

• Projects and supervisors will be assigned to the students by the Programme Coordinator after the completion of first two semesters.

• Students will carry out their project work at their institutions and have to be in constant touch with their supervisors. The sponsoring organizations are required to provide laboratory facilities to the students to carry out their M.Tech project works.

• There will be two class tests in every subject. The class tests will be conducted at Kharagpur when the students come to the Institute during the last weekend of a month for the laboratory class.

• Mid-Semester and End-semester examinations will be conducted at the respective Extension Centers with faculty members as invigilators.

• Comprehensive Viva-Voce will be conducted through video-conferencing.

Number of Students to be Admitted

• Twenty-five in each programme at each Extension Center.

Programme Fee

• Fee for each programme is Rs.2 lakh for each student to be paid in two instalments – the first instalment of Rs.1 lakh to be paid at the time of admission and the second instalment of Rs.1 lakh to be paid one year after the admission. The programme fee includes the tuition fee and the examination fee.

Eligibility for Admission :

• Faculty members associated with the AICTE-recognized programmes of engineering colleges are eligible for admission into the programmes.

• An applicant must have passed B. Tech in appropriate branch with a minimum of 60% marks in the final qualifying examinations (for SC/ST candidates it is 55%).

Application Fee

• The Application Fee of Rs. 2,000.00 for general candidates and Rs. 1,000.00 for SC/ST candidates should be payable by Demand Draft drawn in favour of ‘IIT Kharagpur’ on any nationalized bank payable at Kharagpur.

Undertaking from the Sponsoring Institution

The sponsoring engineering college must give an undertaking that the college will upgrade its own facility (such as laboratories, computer facilities, and library) to enable the sponsored student to carry out his/her M. Tech thesis work in that college.

Selection of Candidates

The candidates will be asked to appear at a written test and an interview to be held at each Extension Center.

Some time back we had suggested something similar. See http://www.orissalinks.com/archives/501. Even with the IIT Kharagpur’s program there is need for more such programs. Perhaps IIIT Bhubaneswar and BPUT can make efforts in this direction.